Spring gala for “dad­dy­less” daugh­ters

South Florida Times
- 2018-04-12
- METRO
- Staff Re­port
For more in­for­ma­tion about the or­ga­ni­za­tion, visit www.fa­thersmia.org. or fol­low them on so­cial me­dia at Face­book, In­sta­gram, and Twit­ter at @fa­thersmia.

DAVIE, Fla. – A South Florida non-profit or­ga­ni­za­tion has as its mis­sion bridg­ing the gap be­tween fa­thers and their chil­dren. In ad­di­tion to pro­vid­ing in­for­ma­tion and re­sources to men to help im­prove their con­nec­tion with their chil­dren, Fa­thers MIA helps young girls whose fa­thers are not ac­tively in­volved in their lives to have a spe­cial night.

Fa­thers MIA hosted their 2nd An­nual “As We Honor Her Spring Gala” on April 7 at the Sig­na­ture Grand in Davie.

Young ladies from Mi­ra­mar, J.P. Tar­avella, Dil­lard, Hal­lan­dale, Mi­ami Jack­son, Mi­ami Nor­land and North Mi­ami se­nior high schools were paired with South Florida po­lice of­fi­cers from an ar­ray of mu­nic­i­pal­i­ties for a “daddy daugh­ter” dance.

Fa­thers MIA pro­vided dresses, hair, and make-up for the girls in prepa­ra­tion for the event. As each young lady en­tered the venue, she was es­corted in by an of­fi­cer and an­nounced by name.

The or­ga­ni­za­tion re­ceived a procla­ma­tion from the City of Ta­ma­rac. Spe­cial guests Patti Good, Broward County School Board mem­ber, and her hus­band, newly elected City of Pem­broke Pines Com­mis­sioner, Thomas Good and Broward County Court Judge Kal Evans at­tended the event where four $1,000 col­lege schol­ar­ships were awarded based on an es­say con­test.

A posthu­mous “Fa­ther of the Year” award was pre­sented to the fam­ily of Coach Aaron Fies, the slain foot­ball coach of Mar­jory Stone­man Dou­glas High School in Park­land. The City of Mi­ami Gar­dens’ first fe­male and African-Amer­i­can fe­male Chief, Delma Noel-Pratt, de­liv­ered the key­note speech and the af­fair was hosted by HOT 105FM “Hot Talk” host Jill Tracey. Robert Jack­son III and Ger­nald Hawkins Jr. are founders. Hawkins said “…it’s a great feel­ing to know you can make a dif­fer­ence in a young per­son’s life with a small act of kind­ness.…”